i have been registered on this forum a couple of weeks now and learned a lot from different people on this type of music. I have aslso just bought a colin cosimini chordbook aswell. i find that Some of the chords are quite difficult to play because i have never played them like that before. I have been playing along with django records with them and sometimes, they dont sound quite right but when i just play them on their own they sound brilliant. Anyone know why?

the rhythm on Django records is usually pretty simple barre chords, whereas the rhythm style in gypsy jazz today is a little more interesting, using chords with more extensions, substitute chords, and chord voicings based on what Django played when comping for a soloist. This latter style is what you find in the Cosimini books, so when playing along with old Django recordings there will likely be clashes since sometimes Cosimini will use a substitute chord which might not fit if someone else is playing the original barre chord.

hi nwilkins, hmm on reflection that last message does look a little terse and grumpy, however as an example, the end of the A section on i'll see you in my dreams? Cosimini says an F#9 to resolve back into the Bb 6/9.. now I know the F# is a tritone sub for C7 but shouldn't there be an F dominant type chord to get back to the Bb?- I know the tune is in the key of F so the C7/F# is the dominant of that key. Also other versions of this tune do have an F7 or similar in there and it sounds more correct. I realise this is probably just more a question of my ignorance rather than anything else but I'd just come back from a gig that night and noticed my rhythm player playing the F#9 straight from the book and it sounded really grating..

well although you could go to F7 it wouldn't be wrong to play C7 for both bars there, and as you pointed out F#7 is the tritone sub. The problem comes from someone's taking the chords in the book out of context and using those charts as the 'vanilla' charts. The Cosimini books are full of substitutions, and should be seen in the context of the original chords - they offer suggestions and examples of ways to add colour to a song. Thus, they should not be played every time through the song, and the rhythm player should be listening to what the soloist is implying and alter his/her chords accordingly.

thanks nwilkins, i can always rely on you for an informed answer.. sometimes i like to post comments which i know will draw a response as it seems so quiet on here sometimes... So what you're saying is that this is just a "version" and it's cool to do it lots of different ways? I kinda realised that but I'm not much of a jazz theorist (i just play!) so perhaps you could give me some tasty examples of how i might link up C7/F#7 into Bb? I guess with an F7 before the Bb you can just look at it as a descending cycle of 5ths from G7 (C7 F7 Bb). Also I suppose treating the C7 as the V going back to the I wouldn't be bad as the Bb shares quite a lot with F.. hmmm now I'm confusing myself..

you can use descending basslines - if you take the F#7 and move it down to F7 it will sound good going to Bb - or you could play the C7 and move it down to B7 going to Bb which gives a three note descending bassline.

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